The invention relates to a folding top for a vehicle, in particular for a passenger car, which is capable of being adjusted between a closing position covering a vehicle space and a folded-together stowage position. In its stowage position, the folding top can be accommodated in a reception space of the vehicle. The folding top is pivotably connected to lateral carrying brackets assigned to the reception space and is supported against the vehicle body via these brackets.
Folding tops of the abovementioned type are known, for example, from DE 34 05 920 C2. In the form of a folding top for a convertible, the folding top is capable of being adjusted between a closing position covering a vehicle space and a put-away position. In the put-away position, the folding top is folded together and assumes a stowage position in which it can be accommodated in a reception space. The reception space is adjacent to the vehicle interior to be covered and is assigned lateral carrying brackets which are supported against the vehicle body and via which the folding top is articulated pivotably on the vehicle body.
Since the folding top, it its folded-together stowage position, is accommodated in the transitional region between the vehicle interior and the rear trunk, this necessarily gives rise, with respect to a given vehicle size, to certain restrictions in the amount of space available in the vehicle interior and/or in the trunk. At the same time, the situation is made more difficult by the fact that, depending on the size and design of the folding top, the carrying parts of the folding top sometimes have considerable dimensions which necessitate corresponding free spaces, particularly in the regions along the sides of the vehicle, and therefore restrict freedom in the configuration of other structural parts, such as, for example, tank filler necks.
These difficulties generally arising in the case of folding tops assume increasing importance when the aim is to achieve a compact vehicle design, since the folding top, when in its put-away position, then increasingly restricts the trunk volume and, in particular, is also detrimental to the loading capacity of the trunk.
This becomes particularly noticeable when the folding top is designed as a so-called hard top, as is known, for example, from DE 197 06 397 C1, since dimensionally rigid roof parts are then present and it is possible to adapt to the conditions of space in the put-away position only by mutual changes in the positions of the roof parts in relation to one another and in their position in relation to the parts delimiting the put-away space. There is the further difficulty, in the case of such folding tops of the hard top type, that the introduction of the relatively large-size folding top parts into the respective put-away space also makes it necessary to have appropriate access possibilities, thus leading to further conflicts in terms of construction space.
Furthermore, DE 199 48 746 A1 has already proposed a folding top for vehicles which is designed as a hard top and which consists of a front and a rear roof part connected via a telescopic rail guide, and in which, in order to open the folding top, the front roof part is first pushed in under the rear roof part, before the roof-part stack obtained as a result can be displaced into the trunk, along a rail guide fixed in position in relation to the body, with the rear flap open. The rail guide is formed by guide rails which are arranged laterally in the trunk, are located opposite one another and run parallel and which have an S-shaped run, so that, starting from a run of the roof parts in which these are flush with the surface, and with the folding top closed, the front roof part can be introduced under the rear roof part by means of an appropriately controlled sequence during the opening of the folding top and the roof stack formed thereby can be placed directly below the closed lid part covering the trunk.
Moreover, DE 36 25 628 A1 discloses a folding top of the hard top type which consists of a front and a rear roof part. The front roof part of the top is pivotably connected to the body in the region of the rear edge of the rear roof part via longitudinal spars engaging laterally over said rear roof part, the connection being made in the region of the lateral arms of a roll bar. The rear roof part is pivotably articulated, in the region of its front transverse edge, on the front roof part and is capable of being pivoted out of its closing position corresponding to the closed folding top upward through 180xc2x0 into an opening position covering the front roof part. From this position, with the trunk lid open, the front and rear roof parts, jointly pivoted rearward through 180xc2x0 via the articulation of the longitudinal spars can be placed in the region of the lid of the trunk, while the longitudinal spars of the front roof part, which then project forward, extend forward along the sides of the vehicle into the seat region.
DE 197 31 330 A1 shows a further design of a folding top for vehicles, in which the folding top is divided in two and has a front and a rear folding top part. The two folding top parts are assigned a common slide-and-fold covering which, with the folding top closed, runs in the region of the front folding top part between lateral spars which, starting from a folding top frame assigned to the rear folding top part, are adjacent to the scuttle cowl dash of the vehicle and, with the slide-and-fold covering open, can be folded in against the front transverse side of the folding top frame of the rear folding top part, the folding top frame forming a cassette-like receptacle for the pushed-together slide-and-fold covering. The folding top frame belonging to the rear folding top part is connected to lateral body columns (B-columns) in the transitional region to the front folding top part via a link mechanism and, together with a cloth-tensioning bar articulated on these columns, stretches out a foldable rear folding top which contains a rear window and which, when the cloth-tensioning bar is pivoted in against the folding top frame of the rear folding top part, can be folded down rearward, together with the folding top frame and the slide-and-fold covering received in a cassette-like manner by the latter, and can be put down on the trunk lid. This solution does not provide a stowage position within the trunk, nor can a folding top concept of this kind be implemented as a hard top.
The object on which the invention is based is to reduce the disadvantages and the restrictions which have been shown.
This is achieved, according to the invention, by providing that the folding top, in its folded-together stowage position, is capable of being displaced in its position in relation to the vehicle body as a result of the adjustment of the carrying brackets.
Since the folding top, in its folded-together stowage position, is capable of being displaced in its position in relation to the vehicle body as a result of the adjustment of the carrying brackets, this affords the possibility of carrying out the folding together of the folding top into its stowage position in a region in which conditions favorable in this respect exist. The roof stack thus formed, that is to say the folding top in its folded-together stowage position, can then be brought as a whole into the actual put-away position by a variation in the position of the carrying bracket. This makes the situation significantly easier, since, in the case of folding tops of the type referred to, when the folding top is transferred from its folded-together stowage position, particularly when this corresponds to a put-away position of the folding top, into the closing position, the carrying linkages have to cover considerable pivoting angles and pivoting travels, and the associated large pivoting angles necessitate large coverages in which overlaps with other structural parts may occur. Furthermore, such a solution also affords the possibility, as required, of transferring the folding top brought into a stowage position into positions in which the restrictions as regards the available loading volume of the trunk are reduced and/or access to this loading volume is improved.
With a view to these requirements, according to the invention the brackets may be displaceable in their vertical position in relation to the vehicle body, but also in the longitudinal direction of the latter, in which case conventional linkage guides or the like can be used in this respect. A configuration which is particularly advantageous and simple in terms of the purpose referred to is obtained when the brackets are arranged so as to be pivotable in relation to the vehicle body, specifically, in particular, so as to be pivotable in the vertical direction, while, in connection with an orientation of the brackets in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, these preferably have essentially the same extent as the lateral folding top guide elements or are congruent with these in the vertical direction, so that the adjustability according to the invention of the brackets does not appreciably influence the space required for the folding top when the latter is in the stowage position.
Expediently, the brackets, when oriented in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, are mounted in their longitudinally central region and are acted upon, in their front region with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, via a corresponding actuating device, for example hydraulic actuating cylinders, when the folding top is articulated in the rearward region of the brackets, so that, when the folding top in its folded-together stowage position is raised, it is also displaced forward and reaches an initial position which is particularly expedient for unfolding the folding top. Preferably, this raised initial position may at the same time form the position of the brackets which corresponds to the closing position of the folding top, while, starting from the put-away position, this initial position for transferring the folding top into its closing position may at the same time form an intermediate position which, in terms of the put-away space being assigned to the trunk, with the trunk open for loading, improves the possibilities of access to the trunk, despite the folding top being in the opening position, to the extent such that even relatively bulky articles can be introduced into the trunk.
In particular, a displacement of the folding top folded together into the stowage position by the adjustment, in particular the pivoting of the carrying brackets, in conjunction with articulation of the trunk lid, proves to be expedient, in which the trunk lid is opened for loading about a front transverse axis with respect to the direction of travel and, by pivoting about a rear transverse axis with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, is transferred into an opening position, in which the folding top can be introduced into the put-away space spanned by the trunk lid, in particular into the trunk. In conjunction with such an arrangement of the trunk lid, a pivotable mounting of the brackets also proves to be particularly expedient, in which, by the pivoting of the brackets, the folding top folded together into the stowage position is displaced obliquely forward and upward and thereby comes into the region which is exposed when the trunk lid is opened by pivoting about its rearward pivot axis.